


all of the cities and places I've seen

by Caisar



Series: a longed-for memory [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blind Date, Gen, M/M, Meet-Ugly, Minor Phasma/Rey, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26298607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caisar/pseuds/Caisar
Summary: “And he kept talking aboutreincarnation,” Hux says between—cold, clammy—bites. “I understand he’s spiritual, and I can respect that—but he wouldn’t shutupabout how we’re all made of stardust and how it binds soulmates across lifetimes.Soulmates, Phas! It’s notromanticwhen Ijustmet him!”
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: a longed-for memory [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178759
Comments: 14
Kudos: 85





	all of the cities and places I've seen

**Author's Note:**

> So I had 24 hours to write something under 1k and I used about 12 hours of it, most of it night-time. Enough words got cut out that I'm not sure what remains makes much sense; but it was a good (decidedly one-time) writing challenge. 
> 
> Ren ain't subtle and neither is this fic.
> 
> Title from [Judah & the Lion - Only To Be With You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBx0iZvYQjU).

This is it. He’s never letting Phasma set him up with someone ever again.

He knew—he _knew_ —it would be a disaster. Blind dates are never a good idea. What in the world possessed him to say yes after months of refusal is beyond him—or, no, whatever possessed _Phasma_ to get a girlfriend who’s _got_ _this cousin, Ben, I think you two would be a good match_ is beyond him. He knows perfectly well his reasons for saying yes.

The next time he starts worrying about dying alone, he’s going to adopt a damn cat.

* * *

Millicent. He’s going to name the cat Millicent.

* * *

Ben follows him into his dreams—except he’s called Ren and they’ve got matching circlets over their brows, shining boldly golden in their reflections in the full-height window they’re standing in front of.

Leaning into his ear, “Stardust,” Ren answers Hux’s question. Hux doesn’t remember what he asked—doesn’t remember asking it, either. “That’s how I’ll find you in the next worlds. I’ll follow your trail of stardust.”

* * *

His alarm starts blaring two seconds after he closed his eyes.

Sighing deeply, he reaches over to switch it off with heavy limbs, trying to blink the grit out of his eyes. Ugh, it’s going to be one of _those days_ , he can feel it—he’s going to count the hours until he can get back to bed.

He hasn’t even left it yet.

“Friday,” he reminds himself, rolling out from under the warm covers. Thank fuck it’s Friday.

* * *

The morning is a blur.

His stomach is churning from all the coffee he’s downed, his head swimming from both the caffeine high and the sleep-deprivation low. Familiar with the process, he pushes on to squeeze in as many tasks as possible before the crash inevitably hits; his work is too important to let a bad night mess with it.

If his thoughts keep slipping away from the task at hand to the dream, he’s got Phasma to blame for it.

She’s sent him a thousand and one texts since last night—which is about a thousand more than expected. Meeting Rey changed her—not necessarily for the worse; he likes to see her smile and laugh more often. It’s the newfound interest in _his_ love life—or lack thereof—he doesn’t quite appreciate.

Muting her contact, he puts the phone aside. She can wait until lunch for the _juicy_ details.

* * *

For once, he allows himself to be late.

Not to spite Phasma—not as his primary goal; it’s more that he’s fucking dragging his feet. Meeting her means going over the shitfest that was his _date_ for an hour when he just wants to forget it’s ever happened.

She would hunt him down all the way to his office had he not shown up, though.

He spots her near the back with two cups of coffee—for which he’s glad—and their respective usual meals cooling on plates—for which he isn’t. It’s at least _a little_ in retaliation on her part, he doesn’t doubt; but he’s too hungry to care.

Before she can ask, “It was a disaster,” he volunteers while taking his seat, eager to get it out of the way—takes a certain pleasure out of the disappointment crossing her face. Months— _months_ —of telling her nothing good could possibly come out of her match-making and here they are anyway. He never wastes an opportunity to say _I told you so_.

Once he’s started, it’s not so difficult to lay it all out between bites. Phasma wasn’t all wrong; Ben was cuter than his photos, like Rey’s promised, and decidedly Hux’s type—but he was also… handsy. Not inappropriate-handsy, which Hux might not have minded under the right circumstances; but familiar-handsy—a hand on the small of Hux’s back, fingers brushing aside a stray lock of hair, simple touches on his forearm and the back of his hand. The few people allowed into Hux’s personal space have all been given express permission—and there goes Ben, casually touching him like there’s nothing more natural in the known galaxy.

Not to mention, Ben knew _too much_ about him. Hux expected him to know some conversation-starters, like Hux does through Rey; but the star-shaped scar on his chest or the reason for his slight limp hardly counts as such.

He doesn’t like to think Phasma might share such sensitive information about him; but the alternative is too scary to consider.

“And he kept talking about _reincarnation_ ,” he says between—cold, clammy—bites. “I understand he’s spiritual, and I can respect that—but he wouldn’t shut _up_ about how we’re all made of stardust and how it binds soulmates across lifetimes. _Soulmates_ , Phas! It’s not _romantic_ when I _just_ met him!”

Phasma says nothing. She’s been eerily silent throughout—in fact, she doesn’t seem to be even listening. Which, _fine_ , he doesn’t want to talk about it more than he has to anyway; but it would be kind of her to—to—

Are those _tears_?

Stomach sinking to his feet, “Phas?” he tries, bending his neck awkwardly to try to meet her gaze. Did he say something wrong? He must have—he always does. The real question is how the fuck to take it back when he doesn’t even know what it _was_.

“We thought he was the missing piece,” she mutters thickly into her cup—which explains not a damn thing. “We thought seeing Ren would jog your memory.”

His lungs tighten, squeezing around his heart.

“Jog my memory?” he asks carefully, his mind chanting _Ren, Ren, Ren_. Must have heard that wrong. “About what?” She just shakes her head. “ _Phasma_. What’s going on?”

Meeting his eyes with anger and betrayal shining in hers, “ _General_ ,” she bites out in the same tone—blood freezes in his veins. “How can you still not remember us?”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for: [Flash Fiction Friday](https://flashfictionfridayofficial.tumblr.com/post/628321063253737472/wake-me-up-when-its-flash-fic-friday), for the prompt #64: made of stardust.


End file.
